Month: May 2016

“At that time, we weren’t able to meet with the coaches or anything, so I didn’t really have a great handle yet,” Tannehill said. “So I wasn’t really able to dive into the playbook too much. So I had a few questions (for Manning). If he comes back now, we can have a completely different conversation.”

Tannehill also said he was able to glean from their work together that Manning “respects Adam. The things they did, getting to a Super Bowl together, there is a mutual respect there. He is something I aspire to be, as good or better as he is one day. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get him to come around some more.”

It seems pretty doubtful that Tannehill will ever be as good as Manning (that’s a pretty high bar to clear), but the Dolphins would probably settle for simply “better than last year” anyway. If Manning and/or Gase can help him get there, that’s great.

The Dallas Cowboys are moving. Like most moves, it’ll be a costly one. Unlike most moves, the final price tag will total $1.5 billion.

Starting next season, the Cowboys’ practice facility will no longer be based at Valley Ranch. Instead, the team will be relocating over to a Frisco-based facility called The Star. Apparently, The Star, once it’s finished, will cost more than the construction of AT&T Stadium — the gold standard of all stadiums.

Again, The Star will cost $1.5 billion!

Rumble Ponies: A tribute to the Triple Cities’ rich carousel heritage, the Rumble Ponies is a herd of fierce horses that no carousel center pole can contain.

Stud Muffins: While tipping a cap to the players on the field, the Stud Muffins celebrates the collection of carousel horses belonging to Binghamtonians.

It’s worth noting most attempts to rehab a partial tear fail and the pitcher ultimately needs Tommy John surgery anyway. Matt Harvey, Chad Billingsley, Drew Hutchisonand Francisco Liriano are among those who attempted to rehab partial tears only to need Tommy John in recent years.

That said, the rehab approach has worked. Most notably, Masahiro Tanakasuccessfully rehabbed a partial tear back in 2014. Tanaka missed most of the second half of that season rehabbing, but the elbow has given him no trouble since. He has a 3.51 ERA (115 ERA+) in 205 1/3 innings since the injury.

“He’s not here to B.S. you and stuff like this,” Jones continued. “It’s pretty sweet. When they called, I’m not sure who I talked to first. I’m pretty sure I talked to everybody in the organization and their wives, but coach Ryan, man, he stood out. Because he basically said, ‘Hey, we don’t B.S. here. I told you we were going to get you and you were on the table when we had an opportunity to.’ Just the team meeting today and the things he said out there today to us let me know he demands excellence, but we’re going to have a great time doing it.”

Regular Eye on Baseball readers are familiar with minor-league teams and their awesome promotional jerseys. The latest incarnation is probably the best we’ll ever see — at least for Star Wars nerds like myself. It’s a Star Wars theme with Han Solo frozen in carbonite!

We’ll let the “Hans” thing slide thanks to the strong jersey game. Outstanding work, Tennessee Smokies (Cubs Double-A affiliate) jersey people. I don’t know how this could be topped.
The Titans signed tight end Delanie Walker to an extension on Friday, locking down their reliable tight end on a multi-year contract extension.

The team announced the contract Friday night, and according to a report from NFL Network, the deal is worth $14.7 million over two years with $8.2 million in guarantees.

Walker is perennially one of the more underrated tight ends in the league, having quietly caught an average of 72 passes per year since coming to Tennessee in 2013.

AFC South

I’m tempted to call the Jaguars America’s team, but really they are The American Media’s Team, because my brothers and sisters in the press cannot stop gushing over them. Don’t get me wrong, that defense has to be better now and they will make strides, but I’m just not ready to coronate them yet. This is actually the most intriguing division in the league to me, with every team having a young quarterback who has at least flashed something. You could make the case for any of the four clubs at this point, even the Titans, given the lack of a true bully on this block.

Are the Jags for real?

I actually like the Colts to regain their perch. They’ll score more points with a healthy Andrew Luck and this kid is too smart and too motivated not to have learned a ton by having to sit out most of last year and watch Matt Hasselbeckoperate his offense. The chaos and uncertainty about the future of the coaching staff and front office cast a cloud over 2015, yet still this team had a slim chance to get to the playoffs in Week 17 despite all it endured. They’ll be better for it.

I’m not buying Brock Osweiler as being an upgrade over Brian Hoyer in Houston until I see it. You can mock Hoyer all you want for the playoff meltdown, but I’ll bet you the new quarterback doesn’t sniff Hoyer’s regular season numbers from a year ago even with all the shiny new weapons the Texans have now. The Titans need another year with a draft haul to fill all of the holes they have, though Mariota will soon be the best quarterback in this division. And the Jags will finally get to the .500 mark, but I have the Colts edging them out.

“He was killing people in walk-through,” Arians said, per the Arizona Republic. “I had to slow him down. It’s a walk-through, and he bench-pressed a lineman already.”

Of course, tackling isn’t allowed at rookie minicamp. So, Arians made sure Nkemdiche knew who would be paying any potential fines handed down by the league.

Two months ago, the Cardinals had no idea they’d be getting all that. In fact, they had only a suspicion, not a certainty, that he would be their Opening Day catcher, much less an ironman who would be among their most consistent contact hitters.

Matheny said he thinks this is who Molina is as a hitter, while last season — in which Molina had his lowest OPS in nine seasons — was an aberration caused by weakness in his right thumb, which was injured in 2014. Molina had surgery on his left thumb twice last winter, the result of a September injury that he played through.

“It shows how much he was up against the wall last year, trying to make something work. Even though he’d been given the green light, he still didn’t have all the strength he wanted,” Matheny said. “When his body is right and he’s healthy, he has a great approach at the plate. He’s a very heady hitter.”

“He knows what he’s doing,” Leake said of Fryer. “It’s not like he’s a bad catcher. He thinks along, he’s got a grasp of pitching. It’s fun to have two catchers that are able to do that.”

Good luck trying to identify Virginia’s players at practice this spring. A numerical roster sheet won’t be of much help.

First-year Cavaliers coach Bronco Mendenhall is going to great lengths to establish a culture change in Charlottesville, and one of the first steps of that overhaul means stripping players of their jersey numbers.

New York Knicks president Phil Jackson met last week with former Pacers coach Frank Vogel, league sources have confirmed to ESPN.

Vogel is the second coach known to meet face-to-face with Jackson. Jackson and general manager Steve Mills also met with former Cavaliers coach David Blatt last month.

In addition to Blatt and Vogel, the Knicks are also considering interim coach Kurt Rambis for their opening.

Bonus footnote: The Patriots wore white at home throughout the 1985 regular season, but then they were forced to wear red on the road in two of their three playoff games (because the Jets chose to wear white at home in the wild-card round and the Dolphins did likewise in the conference championship). They won both of those games, so they chose to stick with red — their usual road color at the time — in Super Bowl XX.

A few other uni-related notes regarding the big game, all regarding the quarterbacks’ uniform numbers:

Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is poised to become the first quarterback to wear No. 1 in a Super Bowl. (Obviously, this also gives him the lowest uniform number ever worn by a Super Bowl quarterback.)

According to the complaint, the league and Goodell relied on “false premises and biased ‘investigations'” in handing down punishment, which also included a $1 million fine and a four-game suspension for quarterback Tom Brady. Brady’s suspension remains under appeal.

The lawsuit claims the NFL violated the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act by “wrongfully revoking the Patriots’ 2016 first round draft choice.” It says Kraft could have fought harder to restore the draft pick, “but he chose his fellow billionaire owners above the Plaintiffs and fellow fans.”

The suit also alleges breach of contract, interference with contractual relations, common law fraud, negligence, racketeering and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Bernie Sanders Slammed on Guns, Sandy Hook

“Plaintiffs have dealt with embarrassment, ridicule and depression due to the rest of the country who is jealous of the Patriots ‘piling on’ and criticizing the Patriots and their fans for being ‘cheaters,'” the suit says.

The plaintiffs in the case include Patriots fans Todd Orsatti, of Bristol, Connecticut; David Vacarro, of Plainville, Massachusetts; Michael DiMauro, of Orlando, Florida; Fairuz Zen, of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Ken Wlodarczyk, of Sewell, New Jersey; Joseph Payne, of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; and Feihua Chang, of Newton, Massachusetts.

Sea Lion That Wandered Into Calif. Eatery Returns to Ocean

The Patriots and league declined to comment Wednesday to The Associated Press.

“Keep your eye on the ball.”

A San Diego cul-de-sac has been transformed into a concrete baseball diamond, home to the Zimmer family’s annual Thanksgiving game for about 22 years.

“That’s the kind of stuff that if you permit it to linger, it can,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “I had him in the office and he was disappointed. He thought he could be ready. We’re not comfortable that it’s at 100 percent, so we want to get it 100 percent well and get him back.”

He was “suspended indefinitely” by the Blackhawks last week pending the outcome of the investigation. The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

“On Saturday afternoon, March 19, 2016, the Chicago Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs learned of a legal proceeding against IceHogs player Garret Ross,” the Blackhawks said in a statement last week. “At that time, we excused Garret from team activities pending our preliminary review of the matter. After further review, we have determined to suspend Garret indefinitely pending the outcome of the legal process. Because this is a pending legal proceeding, we will have no further comment at this time.”

Court records show the charges stemmed from an offense that occurred on Aug. 31, 2015. The new law passed by the Illinois legislature in 2015 makes it a criminal act to share private sexual images without the consent of all parties involved.

Ross was scratched from the Rockford IceHogs’ lineup after news of the allegations broke.

The Chicago Blackhawks will be taking on the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night, but there will be more on the line for the team than just taking two points from one of their former rivals.

If the Blackhawks get at least one point in the standings on Sunday, they will clinch a playoff spot for the eighth consecutive season. One point would put them at 94 on the season, and although the Colorado Avalanche could match that number this season, they would lose a tiebreaker to the Blackhawks based on regulation and overtime wins, a category the Blackhawks hold an insurmountable 42-34 lead in.

Using 2014 sales data, Mitchell & Ness ranked the best selling jerseys by state and Cunningham’s 1992 uni was their top selling jersey in Pennsylvania.

During the 1992, Randall Cunningham was named Comeback Player of the Year after returning from a season ending injury. Before the 1992 season, the Eagles tragically lost Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jerome Brown in a car accident. The Eagles adopted the slogan, “Bring it home for Jerome” wearing commemorative patch on their uniforms.

Furthermore, Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg’s 1984 Chicago Cubs jersey was Alabama’s top seller. Sandberg led the Cubs to the National League’s Eastern Division title in 1984, winning the NL Gold Glove Award and NL Most Valuable Player Award.

Back in November, Bears fans became so upset with the way that Jay Cutler was playing that some of those fans decided to burn their Cutler jerseys.

Not every Cutler jersey was set on fire though and some of the ones that weren’t will be serving a new purpose on Sunday now that Cutler’s on the bench.

For instance, if you have some masking tape and a red marker, you can do what the guy below did and turn your Cutler jersey into a Jimmy Clausen jersey.

As for the leak itself, if it is real, it looks like it’s one of the $100-$125 jerseys that the NFL sells. If the jersey is real, the stitched, authentic jersey will look more vibrant than the one below.

Making the playoffs and losing early for five-straight years sounds terrible until you haven’t actually made the playoffs.

Credit Mike Brown for not acting rashly in this situation and continuing to let Lewis and his staff develop quality players and coaches and continue to take the Bengals in a consistent, positive direction.

For the first time since being issued a six-game suspension, Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith spoke about the incident following practice on Saturday, and confirmed that he will not appeal the decision.

That second hit perhaps played a role in the league’s decision to suspend Keith this time. Much like the Carter infraction, the Coyle hit came after Keith was hit by an opponent. Keith was upended by Coyle in the offensive zone, and as he rolled over on the ice he reached up and slashed his stick across the forward’s face, opening up a gash on the bridge of his nose that required the attention of trainers.

Keith was assessed a 10-minute match penalty for the play, which carried with it an automatic ejection from the contest and a suspension for the Blackhawks’ game Friday night against the Winnipeg Jets.

After the hit, Keith was offered an in-person hearing by DOPS, meaning that the league had the option to suspend him for six or more games. To expedite the process, Keith opted for a phone hearing instead, which took place on Friday afternoon according to the league.

Washington (26-11) was led by Talia Walton, who had 29 points and made a Final Four record eight 3-pointers. The previous record of six was set by Katie Steding in the 1990 title game and matched in 2013 by Antonita Slaughter. Kelsey Plum, the nation’s No. 3 scorer, had 17 points.

But Syracuse rode its defense and took a 23-12 lead after one quarter, extended the lead to 39-20 midway through the second quarter and never let the Huskies get within single digits again.

Reinsdorf has overseen many of the biggest advances in the history of the Bulls’ organization, including the decision to hire Jerry Krause as the team’s General Manager in the 1980’s and the joint venture with the Chicago Blackhawks to build the United Center in 1994. That arena, where the Bulls still play, was the largest in America at the time of its completion, and has seen the Bulls sell out most of their games since it opened for the 1994-95 season.